Racing for the top: Ferrari drivers to bring the F1 title back

Maranello - is a remote Italian town isolated from the nearest city of Bologna by a little highway that is usually full of big cars and trucks. From the airport in Bologna and this little town it takes about 50 minutes drive if you go fast enough but less if you drive the Italian way, representing the locals and making regular drifts across the paint. This is the home of Ferrari and the location where the roadsters and racers have been fabricated since 1940. Here at Maranello, you will find the headquarters of the Formula 1 team, Scuderia Ferrari. This is also called "Ferrari Land" as some locals call it. But it's not a big one, there are only around 17,000 people and everyone in Italy knows this is the Ferrari town. They say that the first visit here is unforgettable, and maybe it's because all visitors are happy to have survived the inbound ride.

Nowdays, Ferrari has two current F1 racers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, and they are the rising celebrities of motorsport. Their stories have been heightened by the famous Netflix series Formula 1: Drive to Survive. And these stories aim to get back the crown to Maranello, after many years of lack of titles. However, both men made low debuts in the village, as they reveal. Leclerc is attentive and clever at only 24 years old and he was born in Monaco. He got only as far as one of the entrances when he first came to town. At the time, he was 11, and he was brought along by a family pal who worked at Ferrari. The kid could not enter and visit the complex, and he says that he was just in the car park imagining what must have been like inside. Something along the lines of a chocolate factory, something magic. On the other hand, Carlos Sainz is a calm and courteous man who was with a rival team when Ferrari pursued him. He was introduced to Maranello in a lot of mystery and secret, as he was waiting for his current contract with another firm to end. His dream came true when he came back to Ferrari.

Speaking of dreams, Leclerc’s younger brother is also a racer. But this job comes with life risks and the drivers literally risk everything when they engage in a race. Netflix treats motorists as real people with real families who still observe the crashes continually and in slow motion. But this might not be funny for their families.Let's explore the town of Maranello a bit. The town's center has one monument which brings to life the team’s mascot, a horse that has sashayed on the symbol of flamboyant sports automobiles and racers also for more than 70 years. Not far away, people walking and you could see the Rosso Corsa, Ferrari’s shade of red pretty much everywhere in Maranello. Even mechanics are dressed in red overalls. You can also find info and tourist panels about the town's history, and learn more about Ferrari's history here starting with the 1940s. Ultimately, you might want to visit the Church of San Biagio.

The town is also famous for a priest in the region who in his spare time used to race Ferraris. This character set a new standard for San Biagio church, where from that moment on, the priest would ring the church bells whenever the team was triumphant. And this custom has stretched across the years, so the successors of the first priest continue to ring the bells when there is a Ferrari win, wherever in the world. So this year, in March, Leclerc finished first and then in April he won again, this time in Australia. And guess what? The bells of the church were singing. The mood in the little town seems to be always positive, life happens under the sign of dolce far niente and people know about Ferrari's wins and losses. You can chat with anyone about the past seasons and the fact that they weren't successful, but that only shows a confidence of people invested in the famous team. If they won't win this season, they will the next one.

If you visit Maranello, you must see the two-story Ferrari museum. It's a place packed with pristine cars, awards, and memorabilia. The museum’s director - Michele Pignatti Morano - explains a Ferrari tradition: the championship-winning cars are brought into the museum and parked forever in the Victory Hall. Visitors are invited to marvel at the old desk and famous ashtray of the company founder, Enzo Ferrari, born in 1898. He began to flourish as a racer and creator of fast cars in the 1920s and ’30s. According to one of his biographers, Enzo was devoted to “the single cause of winning automobile races with cars bearing his name.” However, constantly improving the cars’ speed, year after year, came with a human cost: in the late 1950s, the deaths of Ferrari drivers were also increasing. In the Ferrari museum, you can also visit a display of supercars, the majority of which are on loan from wealthy owners. Now being to expensive, they could not afford to buy them back. But they can still leave people in awe and super impressed with the luxury that makes anyone dream when they enter a supercar even for a minute.